


bruises and broken noses

by peterpiperparker



Series: Whumptober 2020!! [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruises, Gen, Not Beta Read, Reverse Robins AU, Tim Drake is Robin, We Die Like Men, Whumptober 2020, and tim is pretty new to the family, damian is learning to be a good big brother, damian is the oldest brother, it's some whump but like, mainly hurt/comfort tbh, tim is bullied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26768458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterpiperparker/pseuds/peterpiperparker
Summary: tim is being bullied, and damian might be the only one to notice--and he doesn't even live in gotham anymore
Relationships: Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Series: Whumptober 2020!! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1951255
Comments: 21
Kudos: 261
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	bruises and broken noses

**Author's Note:**

> my first piece for whumptober 2020!! hope y'all enjoy. it might be closer to hurt/comfort but i Tried yk?

He notices the bruises on Tim’s arms against his pale skin on a Tuesday afternoon while he’s dropping off a piece of evidence at the manor. Damian’s gaze doesn’t linger as he passes by; he really doesn’t want to be here longer than he has to. 

Things have been tense around his father since Damian left for Blüdhaven, and even worse after Tim Drake showed up on his doorstep trying to get him to go back to Gotham. 

_“Batman needs a Robin!”_

Figures the kid would jump into the tights when Damian refused.

He puts the manila envelope on his father’s desk and tries to slip out without disturbance. He doesn’t get far.

“Ah, Master Damian.” 

Alfred’s posh voice stops him in his tracks, forcing him to turn on his heel. “Yes, Pennyworth?”

“Young Master Tim has been asking after you,” Alfred says, his tone implying that it’s been more than just ‘asking.’ “Maybe you would feel inclined to stay for dinner?”

Damian hesitates, his hand on the wall beside him as if he could vanish through it if he thought hard enough. “I suppose I could.”

Alfred lets a small smile grace his lips. “Very well, I’ll set another place at the table.”

When Alfred disappears back into the kitchen, Damian lets himself fall back against the hall’s wall, berating himself for giving in. The damn butler knows it’s nearly impossible to deny his requests. Now he’s stuck staying for what’s inevitably going to be the world’s most awkward dinner.

Footsteps sound in the dining room, and Damian peeks into the doorway to his left. Tim is walking back to the chair at the head of the table. Books are strewn across the tabletop. Damian watches as Tim winces when he sits down.

“Are you hurt?”

Tim’s head snaps up, an expression of surprise and a hint of alarm on his face. Damian feels the same way, not quite sure why he asked in the first place.

“Uh,” Tim splutters. “Just…patrol, y’know?”

Damian nods slowly, knowing that he’s been lied to, and says, “Right.”

Tim blushes and ducks down to hide his face, feigning reading the text in front of him. Damian stands there, not quite sure what to think of this thirteen year old kid lying to his face. Tim’s posture is tensed up, ever so slightly, and Damian scrutinizes his minute fidgets. 

Making a split second decision, Damian crosses the room to sit next to Tim and scans the papers and books. “What are you working on?” His eyes move from the papers to Tim’s face where a bruise shows up faintly at his jawline from behind a layer of makeup.

Tim looks at him like he’s grown a head or two. “Um.” He starts to explain how they’re going in depth into the DNA components in his Biology class this week. Damian drowns it out in favor of something more important than how guanine attaches to cytosine.

The more he searches, the more he finds. Purple peeking out from Tim’s shirt collar. His right hand curling around his side in what looks too casual to really be natural. The wince when he moves his wrist too much while scribbling down notes.

Damian wracks his brain for a reason. The only thing he can come up with is patrol—he remembers pushing through cracked and bruised ribs at school all too well—but that was a lie. He _knows_ it was a lie. 

Tim’s rambles are white noise as Damian tries to find the real reason. But he doesn’t. 

The reason finds him.

Wednesday afternoon, his father calls him and curtly asks if he can stop by to discuss the contents of the envelope he left on his desk. Damian isn’t exactly thrilled to go back to the manor so soon, especially after the far too silent dinner table last night, but he agrees. 

For Gotham, he tells himself. For his home.

They’re halfway through a data analysis and nearing an explosive argument when Bruce notices the time.

“Tim gets out of school in fifteen minutes,” he sighs. “And Alfred is out.” He runs a hand down his face. “I’ll be back soon.”

Damian stands from the guest office chair as if it burned him. “I can get him.” _Anything to get out of this office._

Bruce hesitates. “Are you sure? I know you don’t exactly…”

“It’s fine. I can get him.” Damian tries to keep the desperation from his voice, and he must succeed to an extent because his father nods. He’s out in his car as quickly as courtesy allows—he was raised with Alfred, after all—and driving to Gotham Academy.

He pulls up to the curb and glances around the crowd for Tim’s familiar face. The crowd thins and he still doesn’t see him, so Damian gets out of his car and heads into the halls he’d walked years ago.

He spots Tim at a locker handing another—bigger—kid a stack of papers. The other kid walks away with a slight sneer, and Tim is left stuffing a binder in his backpack. 

Damian puts a hand on Tim’s shoulder to get his attention, but the reaction isn’t expected. Tim flinches, putting his backpack in front of his face and chest like a discount shield. Gently pushing the backpack down, Damian says, “Tim, it’s me.”

Tim’s scrunched face slowly loosens, his eyes opening cautiously. “Damian?” He quickly puts his backpack on, trying to pretend that _didn’t_ just happen. “What are you doing here?” 

Raising an eyebrow, Damian says, “Father and Pennyworth were predisposed, so I came to pick you up.” He looks from Tim to the hallway the other kid walked away into. “Let’s go.”

Tim is silent as they walk to the car. He slides into the passenger seat and Damian sees him try to hide a wince. Damian sighs, not starting the car. Tim watches him with wide eyes.

“It’s a bully, then.” The word sounds so…childish coming from Damian, he knows it, but he tries to make up for it somehow. “Why doesn’t Robin fight back?”

Tim scoffs. “Because _Robin_ doesn’t go to school! _Tim Drake_ does.” He slumps, more carefully with his left shoulder, looking utterly defeated. “And Tim Drake can’t fight back or it would raise questions.”

They’re both silent for a moment. Damian feels the strong urge to _do something_ for this kid. The kid his father took in and gave his whole childhood to, sure, but he’s still just a kid.

“Tim Drake can’t fight,” Damian agrees slowly, a plan mapping in his mind already. He starts the car and drives Tim back to the manor.

Friday morning he gets a phone call from his father.

“Damian.” 

There’s so much he can unpack from that one word. Instead he ignores it all and answers, “Father.”

“You gave a high schooler a broken nose and threatened him.”

Damian rolls his eyes. “He’ll legally be an adult in a few months, he can hardly be called a high schooler. And he was preying on a _middle schooler,_ he deserved far worse.”

His father just replies with a noncommittal grunt and a long pause before saying, “Tim says thank you.”

A small smile pulls at Damian’s mouth. “It was nothing.”

Maybe having a kid who looks up to him isn’t that bad. Especially if the kid needs someone to look out for him, too.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it!! if you did then i live off validation so if you feel so inclined leave a kudos and comment!!


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